TidBITS#1023/12-Apr-2010
========================
Issue link:
The iPad continues to feature heavily this week, as Adam looks at
Apple's early sales numbers for iPads, books, and apps, Glenn
Fleishman covers the early Wi-Fi problems some iPad users are
experiencing, and Jeff Carlson shares a slew of iPad tips. But the
big news is iPhone OS 4, and we have a detailed look at what Apple
has said about it, as well as some thoughts about the changes to the
iPhone Developer Program License Agreement that ban the use of a
Flash-to-iPhone compiler. Elsewhere, Matt Neuburg points a spotlight
at Google Groups problems, Adam can't resist sharing a tremendously
clever video that shows classic video game characters bitmapping
Manhattan, and we give away three copies of the $149 FotoMagico Pro
photo presentation software. Notable software releases this week
include KeyCue 5.0, The Missing Sync for Android 1.3, Photoshop
Lightroom 2.7, and PDF Enhancer 3.5.
Articles
Steve Jobs Shares iPad Sales Numbers
Some iPad Users Suffer Wi-Fi Woes
DealBITS Drawing: Win a Copy of FotoMagico Pro 3
Google Groups on the Fritz
Classic Video Game Characters Take Manhattan
iPhone Developer Agreement Change Bans Flash-to-iPhone Compiler
22 Useful iPad Tips
Apple Previews Major New Features in iPhone OS 4
TidBITS Watchlist: Notable Software Updates for 12 April 2010
ExtraBITS for 12 April 2010
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Steve Jobs Shares iPad Sales Numbers
------------------------------------
by Adam C. Engst
article link:
1 comment
As is his wont at Apple press events, Steve Jobs shared some of the
numbers related to products connected with the iPhone OS 4 sneak
preview, with iPad sales front and center.
After Apple announced that 300,000 iPads had been sold on the first
day (meaning, via pre-order and on 3 April 2010), many people
wondered if the iPad would maintain its sales velocity. The answer
would seem to be yes, with Jobs stating that as of 8 April 2010
Apple had sold 450,000 iPads, meaning that another 150,000 left
shelves in the subsequent four days (one of which was Easter Sunday,
when few Apple Stores were open).
Given that the best estimates we've seen put Amazon's Kindle at
somewhere over 1 million units sold since its 2007 launch, for Apple
to reach nearly half that number in less than a week indicates just
how much more significant the iPad is than the Kindle, a comparison
that was much debated before the iPad was formally announced and
that has continued even after the iPad shipped.
Similarly, though Amazon won't disclose how many Kindle books it has
sold, Apple is less shy, announcing that 250,000 books were
downloaded from the iBookstore on the first day. That number rose to
600,000 by the iPhone OS 4 announcement, though Jobs didn't
distinguish between free and paid title downloads. Apple makes
available tens of thousands of free books from Project Gutenberg,
and promotes a list of top free downloads alongside top paid ones.
Apps have been even more popular, with 1 million iPad-savvy apps
downloaded on the first day; that number grew to 3.5 million four
days later. Again, Jobs didn't differentiate between free and paid
apps, though he did note that there are now 185,000 apps in the App
Store, of which 3,500 are iPad-savvy (running either solely on the
iPad or available as universal apps that can run tailored for either
the iPad or iPhone).
If all those numbers sound positive, the ones that most shocked us
were the iPhone and iPod touch sales figures. Currently, Apple says
it has sold 50 million units of the iPhone and another 35 million of
the iPod touch, worldwide. Add in the iPad and Apple is closing in
on 86 million iPhone OS devices out there.
That may not put the iPhone ahead of RIM's BlackBerry yet, but Jobs
did share a slide claiming that the iPhone accounts for 64 percent
of U.S. mobile Web browser usage, with phones based on Google's
Android at 19 percent, BlackBerry at 9 percent, and the rest filling
in the final 8 percent.
At TidBITS, in the week beginning 3 April 2010, about 5 percent of
visitors used an iPad to view our pages, with about 7 percent using
an iPhone and 1 percent an iPod touch. That's a significant spike
for a just-released device - glad you thought to come to TidBITS!
We're not alone - Alaska Airlines tweeted that the iPad became the
second most used device to access the company's Web site in less
than a week.
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Some iPad Users Suffer Wi-Fi Woes
---------------------------------
by Glenn Fleishman
article link:
6 comments
In what may be a technical misstep with the first iPads, many owners
are reporting trouble in getting and retaining a strong Wi-Fi signal
with their devices, even in places where other Apple and non-Apple
hardware connect fine. A long discussion thread is in progress at
Apple's site, and has received over 70,000 views and 500 messages so
far.
We're normally quite conservative about reporting hardware troubles
at TidBITS, because there's no way to know what percentage of users
are afflicted. However, even aside from the fact that some TidBITS
staffers are seeing wonky Wi-Fi behavior, the volume of reports here
is high enough, detailed enough, and widespread enough that it's
clear something is awry.
There appear to be four common problems, which may or may not be
related:
* Users see a fluctuating or single bar of Wi-Fi signal strength
displayed on the iPad in an area where other devices, including
iPhones, have no trouble picking up a strong and consistent signal.
* The iPad drops off the Wi-Fi network repeatedly, interrupting
network communication.
* Throughput varies continuously between slow and high rates.
* The iPad prompts for a Wi-Fi network password to a network it has
already joined successfully with a password.
A fifth problem that I've seen fewer accounts of involves Wi-Fi
network disruptions when laying the iPad flat on a table or other
surface.
For one specific problem, where the iPad repeatedly drops off a
network and then reconnects, some users found that disabling the Ask
to Join option in the Wi-Fi network setup kept a consistent
connection, while others did not. Still others tried restarting all
their network hardware, which seemed to eliminate all the problems
cited above... but typically only for a short period of time.
Apple posted a technical support note that addresses common Wi-Fi
connection problems, but it appeared on the day the iPad shipped and
although it's full of general, useful advice, it doesn't
specifically address the particular problems users are reporting.
Several days later, Apple posted a new iPad support note that refers
to one potential problem related to simultaneous dual-band base
stations made by other firms - that is, base stations that can
deliver Wi-Fi over the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands at the same time. These
devices create two separate networks, one in each band, just like
Apple's AirPort Extreme Base Station and Time Capsule network
appliance.
If the non-Apple base station's networks are set to have the same
name but use different security methods, the iPad can fail to rejoin
the network after restart or waking from sleep. Apple advises either
making the security method and encryption key the same, or naming
the two networks on the same base station differently. (This is in
fact Apple's bug - the iPad should be recording the network's
underlying unique ID, not its network name, to associate with the
security type and stored key.)
The iPad ships with iPhone OS 3.2, which is not yet available for
the iPhone or iPod touch, and it's possible that some changes or
enhancements in this release are to blame. I expect we'll see 3.2.1
quickly if the problems are as extensive as they appear.
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DealBITS Drawing: Win a Copy of FotoMagico Pro 3
------------------------------------------------
by Adam C. Engst
article link:
Thanks to writing seven editions of my "iPhoto Visual QuickStart
Guide" since iPhoto's launch, I've talked to a vast number of iPhoto
users. One common theme among those conversations is dissatisfaction
with iPhoto's slideshow capabilities, even as Apple has enhanced
them over the years. You can't add text to a photo in an iPhoto
slideshow, or add narration, for instance, both of which are
frequently requested features.
A powerful answer to iPhoto's slideshow limitations comes from Boinx
Software, in the form of FotoMagico 3, which comes in Home and Pro
editions. At a basic level, the $29 FotoMagico Home starts with
essentially the same features as iPhoto, but builds from there. You
can add images from iPhoto or the Finder, mix still images with
movies, apply the Ken Burns Effect to pan and zoom on both still
images and movies, put text titles on top of your photos, use
jitter-free transitions, and lots more. Apart from just showing your
slideshow in FotoMagico, you can also export it to YouTube, a
Web-based movie, or for display on a DVD, iPod, iPhone, or Apple TV.
But while FotoMagico Home can do much of what most people might
want, the $149 FotoMagico Pro adds the truly cool features, like
being able to record narration directly within the program,
watermark images during the slideshow, and display a teleprompter on
one screen while showing images on another. FotoMagico Pro also
extends the export options significantly and comes with a license
for Boinx's PhotoPresenter, which lets users make template-based
slideshows in seconds.
So if you want to win one of three copies of FotoMagico Pro 3.0,
each worth $149, enter at the DealBITS page. All information
gathered is covered by our comprehensive privacy policy. Remember
too, that if someone you refer to this drawing wins, you'll receive
the same prize as a reward for spreading the word.
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Google Groups on the Fritz
--------------------------
by Matt Neuburg
article link:
2 comments
Last year, when I set up a discussion group and mailing list for
users of my RubyFrontier Web framework project, I made a choice
between creating a Yahoo group or a Google group. I went with Yahoo
Groups even though I'm not terribly fond of the interface and
features. Now I'm happy I didn't choose Google, when I discovered
that Google Groups are suffering from an annoying glitch.
Two important Google Groups features are the capability to create
and publish custom Web pages and the fact that you can upload,
store, and share files. It appears that these features - called
"Pages" and "Files" - have broken for some groups. I first noticed
the problem while trying to access some Pages for a Google group I
belong to; but as I write this, the Is Something Broken Google group
(part of Google's Help Forum) is filled to overflowing with threads
where users complain that they can't upload or download files and
that they can't view pages.
The most frustrating part of the problem, for many, is the lack of
response from Google. Indeed, there is no direct way to contact
Google about such matters. Clicking the Contact link that appears
when pages fail to load tells the user that you can't email Google
about anything but abuse and legal matters; the alternative is to
post on the Help group, which is exactly what users are doing, with
no sign that Google folks are paying any attention.
This issue is making many Google Groups users, those for whom the
Pages and Files features are an essential aspect of a particular
group, feel that their Google Groups experience is broken, or that
they have effectively lost important data. Even if the problem is
cleared up soon, which of course it may well be, it illustrates a
peculiarly telling confluence of circumstances:
* Web applications are great, and free Web applications are really
great. But Web applications are software, and software can develop
bugs - not to mention that the networked nature of Web applications
can result in other glitches (such as, a server can become
unavailable). It's natural to put your faith in a Web application,
as if it were a service that seems like it will always be there,
like electricity or running water to a house; but, just like those
services, things can go wrong, and when they do, there's a feeling
of anger and loss, as if you'd been robbed of something.
* The Web is not backup. It's convenient, but something stored "in the
cloud" is no less likely to vanish than something stored on a hard
disk, and since you have no direct access to the server and you're
not in charge of how it gets backed up, you have no recourse when it
does. Users who feel they've lost data because of this incident have
misunderstood how to use the Internet; your sole copy of something
should _never_ be on a remote server.
* Google's Web applications have a lot of users. That means that when
things go wrong, there can be a lot of complaints. So there can be a
very big spike of very angry noise very quickly.
* Google's famous "Don't be evil" slogan can backfire at moments like
this. Users are explicitly accusing Google of evil even though
Google hasn't particularly done anything; it's as if users felt that
"Don't be evil" were somehow equivalent to a hybristic attitude
("Unlike everyone else, we are utterly infallible"). Maybe Google
should have chosen something less pretentious, like "Do your best
under the circumstances."
* The public memory is notoriously short. Google Groups has always had
problems with the Pages and Files features. This isn't really a new
problem at all, as a look through the older Google Help Forum
postings reveals.
* The real failure here, in my opinion, is communication. Google feels
like a remote behemoth because it is acting like a remote behemoth.
There is something distinctly Microsofty about the inability of
users to get Google's explicit and direct attention on this matter.
Google should make itself open to bug reports via email, or at least
through a Web form where the user is sent a personal (even if
canned) response within a day or two.
All of that said, I'm just as furious as everyone else. For the
groups where I'm dependent on these features, their loss is
effectively breaking my use of those groups. Google's silence on the
matter is giving users the impression that the company doesn't care
about Google Groups. Google needs to take action to correct that
impression, and soon.
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Classic Video Game Characters Take Manhattan
--------------------------------------------
by Adam C. Engst
article link:
Patrick Jean's video "Pixels" is a graphical tour de force of
classic video game characters destroying Manhattan. Space Invaders
bomb New York City cabs into pixelated rubble, Pac-Man eats the
subway, Tetris blocks "complete" skyscrapers, the Breakout paddle
knocks out supporting bricks in the Brooklyn Bridge, and Donkey Kong
takes over the Empire State Building. I especially liked Frogger's
cameo appearance, and true to form, he just hops across the street
without hurting anything. See how many video game company logos you
can find in the backgrounds!
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iPhone Developer Agreement Change Bans Flash-to-iPhone Compiler
---------------------------------------------------------------
by Adam C. Engst
article link:
3 comments
Along with this week's release of the iPhone OS 4 SDK, Apple made a
change to Section 3.3.1 of the iPhone Developer Program License
Agreement. Previously, that section read:
"Applications may only use Documented APIs in the manner prescribed by Apple and must not use or call any private APIs."
After Apple's addition, it reads as follows:
"Applications may only use Documented APIs in the manner prescribed by Apple and must not use or call any private APIs. Applications must be originally written in Objective-C, C, C++, or JavaScript as executed by the iPhone OS WebKit engine, and only code written in C, C++, and Objective-C may compile and directly link against the Documented APIs (e.g., Applications that link to Documented APIs through an intermediary translation or compatibility layer or tool are prohibited)."
That additional verbiage appears designed to block the use of
certain cross-platform compilers such as Novell's MonoTouch, which
compiles C# and .NET apps for the iPhone, and Adobe's forthcoming
Flash-to-iPhone compiler (there are actually four or five of these
cross-compilers, not all of which will be affected). John Gruber
explains the situation well at Daring Fireball, and his followup
article "Why Apple Changed Section 3.3.1" makes some good points
about how cross-platform compilers have seldom resulted in top-notch
Macintosh applications. Read his analysis for details, and be sure
to check out Steve Jobs's related comments in email to Tao Effect
CEO Greg Slepak.
One aspect of the situation that John doesn't touch on is the legal
firestorm that this change may engender. MonoTouch comes from Novell
and Adobe has undoubtedly spent a huge amount of money on developing
its Flash-to-iPhone compiler. Both companies have strong legal
departments, and given that this change was made to a legal
agreement, it seems entirely likely that we'll see these companies
filing lawsuits against Apple for anti-competitive behavior.
However, it's important to remember that Apple isn't acting
irrationally, as John notes:
"So from Apple's perspective, changing the iPhone Developer Program License Agreement to prohibit the use of things like Flash CS5 and MonoTouch to create iPhone apps makes complete sense. I'm not saying you have to like this. I'm not arguing that it's anything other than ruthless competitiveness. I'm not arguing (up to this point) that it benefits anyone other than Apple itself. I'm just arguing that it makes sense from Apple's perspective - and it was Apple's decision to make."
He's right. It would be nice to see Apple competing entirely on the
basis of having the best products, but as Mac users know, the best
product doesn't always win. Having been on the wrong side of that
battle for 25 years, Apple isn't going give up any potential
advantage in the brave new iPhone OS world.
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22 Useful iPad Tips
-------------------
by Jeff Carlson
article link:
12 comments
As many companies have discovered, you can't successfully slap a
desktop operating system onto a tablet device. The iPad uses Apple's
iPhone OS, which, although based on the guts of Mac OS X, was
designed with a touch interface in mind. And when you're designing
something from scratch, there are numerous opportunities to enhance
the experience.
Now that I have an iPad in my hands, I've discovered some new
techniques and hidden shortcuts, and also found myself making
heavier use of existing iPhone shortcuts (including a few I didn't
realize were there).
**Small Swipes for Large Actions** -- No doubt the iPad's biggest
selling point is its large screen, especially compared to an iPhone
or iPod touch. But it can also feel like a liability at times.
In the Home screen or the Photos app, for example, you'll be tempted
to swoosh across the entire width of the screen, which is what I've
always done on the iPhone. Instead, only a small swipe motion is
required. For example, to advance images in the Photos app, position
your left thumb at the left edge of the screen (where it likely is
if you're holding the iPad with your left hand supporting its
weight) and just flick the thumb half an inch right-to-left or
left-to-right.
(This tip also applies to the iPhone and iPod touch, but the small
size of the screen makes it less useful.)
**Add Up to Six Apps to the Dock** -- The iPad ships with a basic
iPhone layout, which includes four apps on the Dock that appears at
the bottom of all Home screens. Take advantage of the extra screen
size and add up to two more. Tap and hold an app you want to add
until all of the apps begin jiggling. Then drag the app to the Dock.
Press the Home button when you're done.
Unfortunately, you can't put more than 20 apps on a screen, but
there are 11 screens. This will change with folders in iPhone OS 4.
**Jump to the Top** -- This behavior was introduced on the iPhone, but
you need it more on the iPad's large screen. Tap the status bar at
the top of the screen to jump back to the top of the page or window
you're viewing.
I wish there were a similar action for jumping to the end of a page
(such as when I want to read comments at the end of an article, for
example). The closest there is to a workaround is Vais Salikhov's
free End of Page app, which is actually a clever bookmarklet that
works in Safari. (He also has a similar Find in Page app that
enables searching inside Web pages.)
**Lock That Rotate** -- This may not qualify as much of a secret,
since Apple promotes the feature, but in my early experience, it's
terrifically useful. Flick the switch above the volume controls to
lock screen rotation. The iPad is quite sensitive to orientation,
and rotates its screen with little provocation. Locking rotation
means sticking with the view you're in, even as you shift position,
or place the iPad flat on a surface.
**Quick Mute** -- With that switch repurposed for rotation lock, what
happened to the iPhone's capability of using it to mute the volume?
On the iPad, press and hold the volume down button. After about two
bars of volume, the iPad's volume jumps to zero. (Take Control
author Sharon Zardetto gets credit for pointing out this tip.)
**Use Spotlight to Launch Apps** -- Again, this is something not
unique to the iPad, but I never used it on the iPhone. Once you've
accumulated a bunch of apps, it can take a while to flip through
several home screens to find the one you want. Although there's no
equivalent to LaunchBar for the iPad (believe me, I'd buy it in a
heartbeat), here's the next best thing.
When you're on a home screen, press the Home button to get to the
first screen, then either press the button again or swipe to the
right to expose the Spotlight search interface. Tap the Search field
and start typing the app name; you'll see that Spotlight also grabs
everything similar, including Mail messages, song titles, contacts,
and events, as well as the app. Then tap the one you want to launch.
The iPad returns results on this page enormously faster than on an
iPhone 3GS or current iPod touch.
**Type an Apostrophe from the Basic Keyboard Layout** -- The iPad's
onscreen keyboard approaches the dimensions of a full-size keyboard
(in wide orientation, at least), but accommodations still had to be
made to get it to fit. One of the most maddening is the lack of an
apostrophe key. I keep hitting the Return key with my right pinkie
finger when I mean to type an apostrophe. You need to tap the
".?123" button to reveal the correct key, which itself is in an odd
position at the bottom of the layout.
Instead, press and hold the comma key. A pop-up variation appears
with an apostrophe, and it even appears highlighted, which means you
don't have to move your finger to select it. Simply tap, hold for a
moment, then release to create the apostrophe.
**Type Curly Quotes** -- Similarly, tap and hold the single or
double-quote key to get a selection of real quotes (the curly kind)
as used in major languages that use the Roman alphabet. This feature
is in the iPhone, too, and I'd never discovered it, probably because
I didn't notice typography as much on the small screen. When putting
together a Keynote presentation, however, those curly quotes make a
big difference. (Straight quotes - disparagingly referred to by
typographers as "typewriter quotes" - often indicate the person is a
graphics amateur.)
The onscreen keyboard hides all kinds of other goodies, too, which
seem more useful in extended typing on the iPad than on the iPhone
or iPod touch. For instance, hold down the period key on some
keyboards, and a list of domain extensions (like .com and .org)
appear.
**Access Alternate Characters** -- This tip isn't specific to the
iPad, but it's worth remembering. Touch and hold a character on the
onscreen keyboard to view related characters. For example, holding
the E key brings up accented E characters, or holding the $ key
brings up other currency symbols. (Thanks to reader "Arthur" for the
reminder.)
**Better Word Suggestions** -- This one isn't so much a tip as it is
an observation. I've noticed that the iPad's word assistance is
better than the iPhone's. When I miss the space bar while typing
(especially now as I'm just getting accustomed to the onscreen
keyboard), the iPad automatically suggests that something like
"feellike" should be "feel like".
**Practice Good Typing Form** -- I never realized that I rest my hands
on the keyboard when I type until I started using the onscreen
keyboard where every contact on the screen creates an action. Keep
those fingers and palms up as you type.
**Zoom Way, Way In** -- The Zoom accessibility option that's in the
iPhone OS is even more helpful on the iPad than on a smaller device
because of the additional screen territory. You can turn this on
from Settings > Accessibility > Zoom by flipping Zoom to On.
The Zoom screen explains the three options: double tap with three
fingers to zoom in; drag with three fingers for panning around the
screen; and use three fingers to double tap without releasing, and
then drag up or down to zoom in or out.
**Use an External Keyboard** -- When you want to do some extended
typing, pair the iPad with a Bluetooth keyboard or plug it into
Apple's iPad Keyboard Dock. In addition to better ergonomics, this
setup gives you access to common keyboard commands like Copy
(Command-C) and Paste (Command-V), and lets you make selections of
text by holding down a Shift key and using the arrows for
navigation. You can also delete words with Option-Delete, and entire
lines with Command-Delete.
It's also helpful for navigating a document. Press Command-Up arrow
to jump to the top of a document (like a Home key), or Command-Down
arrow to jump to the end (like an End key). Option-Left arrow and
Option-Right arrow move the insertion point by words, as you'd
expect.
**Manage a Bluetooth Keyboard** -- If you've paired a Bluetooth
keyboard, be sure to turn it off or disable Bluetooth when you're
not using it. If you enter any editable text field that requires
text input and the keyboard is within range, the onscreen keyboard
won't appear.
You can press the Eject button on the Bluetooth keyboard to toggle
the appearance of the onscreen keyboard. But it's easier just to
turn off the external keyboard when you're not going to use it for a
while, or taking the iPad to another room.
To turn off the Apple Wireless Keyboard, press and hold the power
button for a few seconds. The status light will come on; wait until
it goes out. Then the keyboard's power is off, and the iPad will
resume using its onscreen keyboard.
You can also go to Settings > General > Bluetooth and set the
Bluetooth switch to off, which both reduces battery usage and
disables any other paired Bluetooth connection.
**Master Shifting** -- The iPad has territory enough to offer a Shift
key on both the left and right sides of the keyboard and for your
hands to lie flat on the screen. This lets you take advantage of a
feature found in the iPhone OS, but not quite practical to use on
the iPad's smaller siblings: you can hold down the Shift key while
typing a letter to a get a single capital letter, then release, as
with normal physical keyboard touch typing. This can dramatically
increase your typing speed. You can still tap a Shift key, which
turns blue, and then tap a letter to get a single capital letter.
I've actually disabled the Caps Lock key on my MacBook Pro because I
hate accidentally hitting it and TYPING IN ALL CAPS, but there are
times where turning on Caps Lock is helpful (such as writing about
topics with lots of acronyms like AVCHD, HDCP, HDTVs, or TANSTAAFL).
You can do this in the iPhone OS too, though I never felt the need
for it when typing on those devices.
Go to Settings > Keyboard > Enable Caps Lock and set the switch to
On. Then, when you're typing, double-tap one of the Shift keys. The
entire key becomes illuminated in blue, with a white arrow in the
middle, to indicate that caps are locked. Tap a Shift key again to
exit the Caps Lock mode.
You can also hold down either Shift key and type letters to create a
series of capitals.
**Easier Text Selection** -- This feature is also not unique to the
iPad, but it's worthwhile and something I never knew about until a
few days ago. Double-tap and hold a word to select it to circumvent
the need to tap the Select button that appears, and then drag to
extend the selection to additional words. It works on both sides of
the selected word; when you're moving just the selection handles,
that's not the case.
**Replace Text** -- When you select a word, the familiar pop-up
options appear: Cut, Copy, and Paste. The iPad adds a new option:
Replace. Tap it to view alternate spellings or corrections.
**Use the Spell Checker** -- The iPad includes a built-in spell check
feature that acts the same as the one in Mac OS X. If you misspell a
word, it appears with a dotted red underline. Tap the word to view
suggested spellings. (Thanks to reader "Rivka" for pointing this
out.)
**Watch iTunes-Purchased Movies on an HDTV** -- Movies in the iTunes
Store are wrapped in Apple's FairPlay DRM, which uses HDCP to ensure
that only devices that support HDCP can play the video. If you
bought the iPad Dock Connector to VGA Adapter and hope to play video
on your recent HDTV, you're out of luck because it won't carry the
digital signal. If your television has component connections (red,
green, and blue cables), buy Apple's Component AV Cable kit and hook
your iPad to the TV. Voilà! It's like having a portable Apple TV
with you at all times.
**Always Show Bookmarks Bar in Safari** -- I use MobileMe to sync my
Safari bookmarks to the iPad, and keep my most-used bookmarks handy
by storing them in the Bookmarks Bar on my MacBook Pro. Safari on
the iPad also features a Bookmarks Bar, but it's hidden by default.
In fact, the only way to make it appear is to tap the Address field
to position the cursor there. Instead, go to Settings > Safari and
turn on the Always Show Bookmarks Bar setting to make the bar appear
at all times.
**Two-Finger Zoom for Web Video** -- Reader "Joe" pointed out that
when you encounter a video on a Web page that the iPad can play,
touching it with two fingers and expanding (the opposite of the
pinch gesture) zooms the video to full-screen mode.
**iBooks Easter Egg** -- I haven't heard of any Easter eggs - hidden
programming surprises that developers sometimes include in software
- in the iPad's software, but I did discover something similar. In
the iBooks app, touch and hold the shelves that display your
library, then drag down as far as you can to reveal a little
surprise hidden behind the faux wood.
Have you discovered any iPad tips? Share them in the article's
comments and we'll update this article or write a new one (with full
credit, of course)!
----
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Apple Previews Major New Features in iPhone OS 4
------------------------------------------------
by TidBITS Staff
article link:
8 comments
Less than a week after shipping the iPad, Apple established at a
media event on 8 April 2010 that it's the Company that Does Not
Sleep by offering an extensive preview of iPhone OS 4. The new
operating system offers more than 100 new user features and 1,500
APIs for developers, and tackles most of the outstanding criticisms
of the iPhone, including support for particular kinds of
multitasking, folders for app organization, enhanced Mail support,
iBooks, and greater enterprise support. It also brings a new way for
developers to make money from apps: iAd, Apple's new in-app mobile
advertising service.
A beta of iPhone OS 4 is currently available to registered iPhone
developers. It will be available for iPhone and iPod touch devices
in the summer and for the iPad in the fall (those being Northern
Hemisphere seasons).
Along with the iPad, iPhone OS 4 will work on the iPhone 3G, iPhone
3GS, iPod touch 2nd generation (late 2008), and iPod touch 3rd
generation 32 GB and 64 GB (late 2009). Even among that list, some
features, like multitasking, will be available only to the iPhone
3GS and 3rd generation iPod touch. The original iPhone lacks the
hardware to run iPhone OS 4, according to Apple. Apple will probably
also announce at least a new iPhone model by July that would likely
ship with iPhone OS 4 installed. (The iPod touch is typically
revamped along with other iPod models in the third quarter.)
In his presentation, Steve Jobs ran through the main categories of
features by calling out seven "tentpoles," making for a very large
and odd-shaped but interesting tent.
**Tentpole #1: Multitasking** -- The most significant improvement
planned for iPhone OS 4 is multitasking, and as Adam noted in "Does
the iPhone OS Need Multitasking?" (8 February 2010), most people
haven't thought very carefully about what multitasking really
entails. Luckily, Apple has. In iPhone OS 4 the company has
introduced seven services that satisfy most of the desires of those
who called for multitasking without allowing true background apps
that would carry out simultaneous, independent actions while a
foreground app was running. True background apps would likely reduce
battery life and certainly hurt performance, especially considering
the devices' memory constraints. Apple's multitasking services
include:
* Fast App Switching: There's no provision in the iPhone OS, even on
the large-screen iPad, to display multiple apps simultaneously, but
in iPhone OS 4, it will be easier to switch between apps. Pressing
the home button twice will display a strip at the bottom of the
screen showing all the apps that are running. (The effect appears to
be like adding a widget in Dashboard in Mac OS X, where the entire
screen shifts up.) You tap an app's icon to switch to it.
What "running" means here is that the app's state has been
suspended. When you press the Home button in the current iPhone OS,
an app's state is normally dropped, but some apps (like our TidBITS
News app) are coded to resume in the same state when relaunched.
This takes time and resources, however, and has a notable delay for
games and other complicated apps that have to set up network
connections. In the new regime, the app is just in quiet suspension,
consuming no active resources, but storing some data to resume
instantly from where it left off. From remarks during the Q&A
session following the announcement, it's unclear whether and how you
quit a suspended app.
* Background Audio: The poster children for why the iPhone OS has
needed multitasking are music streaming apps, like Pandora, and
Internet radio apps, like Public Radio Player. Streaming audio apps
currently work only when active, unlike Apple's iPod app, which can
keep playing in the background. Apple has now opened up an API so
developers like Pandora and Public Radio Exchange can continue to
provide audio even when not active. Pandora CEO Tim Westergren said
that it took them only a day to make Pandora fully background-aware
on the developer preview.
* Background VoIP: Skype and other voice-over-IP apps are another
class of apps whose users have begged for multitasking. With the new
background VoIP API, these apps will be able to receive calls in the
background and continue a call even if the user switches to another
app. This is huge, since it will turn the iPod touch (and the iPad,
to a lesser extent) into far more powerful voice communications
devices, without relying on cell carriers. With the coming support
from Apple and AT&T for VoIP over 3G, background VoIP puts a real
crimp in the need for large minute pools for most subscribers.
(Plans for VoIP over 3G outside the United States aren't quite as
clear.)
* Background Location: Also needing background services are GPS apps
like Navigon and CoPilot, which will be able to continue tracking
your location and giving you voice directions even when you've
switched to another app. They tend to suck up a lot of power, but
are usually engaged while the iPhone is plugged into a car's power
outlet.
The new Background Location API will also be useful for
location-aware social networking apps, but, cognizant of the privacy
issues, Apple has added a status bar indicator next to the battery
icon to show if an app is asking for your location. We do wonder if
there have been actual problems with people revealing location
unintentionally, or if people are simply squeamish about the
concept.
iPhone OS 4 will also let you turn location awareness on and off
for each app; currently, you opt in or out during the first two
sessions in which an app requests location; you can't easily reset
this choice for a particular app later. (There's an ad tie-in as
well: if a program uses Apple's iAd system, described later, and you
opt in to providing location data, Apple could target ads to you
more closely.)
* Push Notifications: Introduced with iPhone OS 3, push notifications
have been as close as apps could get to multitasking before this,
and it's unclear if much of anything has changed. It would be nice,
for instance, if there were a way of showing more than one
notification at a time, if they've stacked up. Apple did note that
their servers have pushed out 10 billion notifications so far.
* Local Notifications: What is new is the concept of local
notifications, which builds on the same approach as push
notifications but doesn't need to use Apple's servers. Local
notifications will be extremely useful for apps like calendars and
clocks that need to alert the user to an event. This addition may
explain why there's no Clock app on the iPad - Apple may expect
other developers to fill that gap.
* Task Completion: The final multitasking-related service is task
completion, which will enable an app to complete a task - uploading
a picture to Flickr, sending a tweet - even if you've switched to
another app.
**Tentpole #2: Folders** -- Since the early days of the iPhone OS, the
mechanism for organizing apps on the Home screen has been limited.
Scrolling through several screens' worth of apps gets old quickly.
To improve the experience - and to deal with the capacity for up to
2,160 apps on a device! - Apple is introducing folders.
Folders enable you to group related items into categories. Press and
hold an app until all of the apps jiggle (the current way to move or
delete apps), and then drag an app on top of another to create a
folder. The folder's initial name is based on the predominant App
Store category represented within; for example, grouping games
creates a Games folder, though you can also rename the folder as you
please.
When you tap the folder icon (which features miniature icons of the
apps within the folder), the home screen splits to reveal the
contents while the other apps in the background are made
semi-transparent. Jobs also pointed out that a folder can be added
to the Dock, a quick way to access many categories of apps without
swiping between multiple home screens.
Given that iTunes provides an alternate and more straightforward way
to organize app layouts, it's likely that you'll have a
stripped-down way to add apps to folders there, too.
**Tentpole #3: Enhanced Mail** -- Anyone who checks multiple email
accounts on an iPhone or iPod touch will be happy to learn that the
Mail app under iPhone OS 4 finally features a unified Inbox - no
more tapping several times to exit one account's Inbox and navigate
to another account's Inbox. All of your messages appear in the same
window.
If you want to focus on just one account, however, you can switch to
just that account's Inbox using a new fast Inbox switching feature.
In all accounts, email is threaded: you can view a conversation over
multiple messages without having to cherry-pick each one from the
list of all messages.
Speaking of multiple accounts, iPhone OS 4 also supports multiple
Microsoft Exchange accounts. Another welcome addition is better
handling of mail attachments. If an app is present that can open the
file type, you're given the option of choosing that app.
**Tentpole #4: iBooks on iPhone** -- Perhaps the least surprising of
Apple's iPhone OS 4 features is the addition of the iBooks app,
which will make the iBookstore's EPUB-based books available to the
iPhone and iPod touch, along with the iPad. The interface of iBooks
looks nearly identical to the iPad version with the same bookshelf
metaphor and iBookstore. It will even come with the same free copy
of "Winnie-the-Pooh."
New will be a "buy once, read anywhere" feature that lets you
purchase a book on your iPhone, for instance, and read it on any of
your devices. Additionally, the app will offer wireless syncing of
position and bookmarks between devices, presumably via either the
iBookstore or MobileMe.
The "anywhere" is still limited to iPhone OS 4 devices and iPads,
but it's possible Apple was signaling that "anywhere" might include
a Mac OS X reader as well, or support within Preview. While that's
not the ideal experience, it would provide a bit more oomph to the
"anywhere" statement.
**Tentpole #5: Enterprise Enhancements** -- Apple took a lot of heat
in its first iPhone OS release back in 2007 for failing to take into
account a host of large-scale corporate - so-called enterprise -
requirements. That has improved through the iPhone OS 2 and 3
releases, but in iPhone OS 4 Apple adds a number of missing pieces
and enhancements.
* Data protection: Apple finally appears to be closing a major hole in
the iPhone OS that allowed a jailbroken iPhone to reveal all the
device's data, even if hardware encryption was enabled. In iPhone OS
4 email messages and attachments (the primary enterprise concern)
will be encrypted using the PIN code of the device as an element in
constructing the encryption key, which means the data should still
be protected even if someone gains physical control of the device
and hacks the operating system. Combined with the capability for
enterprises (or anyone) to use the iPhone Configuration Utility to
support long passcodes or even full passwords, this significantly
improves the security of email data on the device. Apple also
announced that they would open up data protection APIs so other
applications can also build this extra security into their code for
internally stored data.
* Mobile device management: IT managers have few tools today for
configuring iPhones en masse. iPhone OS 4 will offer hooks to allow
third-party management software that enterprises use for monitoring,
pushing out updates, and configuring hardware to tie in iPhones as
well. These hooks extend to remote locking and remote wiping, so
we'll undoubtedly see significant extensions to existing tools and
potentially new tools focused just on iPhones.
* Wireless app distribution: While enterprises can pay $299 per year
for a special developer's license to create and distribute apps for
company use on iPhone OS devices, those apps could be loaded only
over USB via iTunes. iPhone OS 4 lets these apps be pushed out over
Wi-Fi or 3G networks, which will make it easier to release interim
versions and bug fixes without requiring company-wide plug-fests.
For an enterprise user, this could mean they will only need to
connect to iTunes to synchronize media (music/video/photos), to
apply firmware updates, or to generate device backups.
* Multiple Exchange accounts on single phone: It isn't unusual for an
enterprise user to connect to multiple Microsoft Exchange email
accounts, or to a mix of corporate Exchange and personal email
services. Now those users will have full support to mix and match
accounts, rather than being limited to a single server. The unified
mailbox will let all of those accounts (if desired) appear alongside
other email accounts, too.
* Exchange Server 2010 support: This feature will allow the iPhone to
connect with Microsoft's latest version of their popular
collaboration server, enabling enterprises to update to the latest
versions of both platforms without worrying about compatibility
issues and enabling the iPhone to make use of the new features
offered by Exchange 2010.
* SSL VPN support. Virtual private networks come in three primary
flavors: L2TP over IPsec, PPTP, and SSL. Apple provided reasonable
support from the start for the first two kinds, and added more
options for authentication (using, for instance, token generators or
secure cards) in subsequent releases. iPhone OS 4 finally adds
SSL-based VPN support, which is in wide use and which requires
low-level system hooks to work. SSL VPNs come in a huge variety, and
Apple is adding underlying support to allow third-party apps from
Juniper and Cisco to enable SSL-based VPN connections.
**Tentpole #6: Game Center** -- It's no secret that the iPhone OS has
become a huge gaming platform, with 50,700 game and entertainment
apps currently available in the App Store. That number blows Apple's
competitors out of the water: the Nintendo DS reportedly has 4,321
titles, while the Sony PSP boasts only 2,477.
A big part of gaming is the social aspect, comparing scores and
achievements with friends and strangers across the Internet. To
enrich its gaming environment, Apple is creating its own social
gaming network, called Game Center.
While the details remain murky, Game Center sounds not unlike the
wildly popular Xbox Live network. Apple's Scott Forstall said we
could expect features such as friend invites, leaderboards,
achievements, and matchmaking (which enables users to seek out and
match up against opponents at a similar skill level).
At a more basic level, as Forstall noted during the Q&A session,
Game Center is intended to help the viral spread of entertainment
apps by enabling users to be clued in on what their friends are
playing. Game Center will ship in preview mode for iPhone OS 4 and
will be available to all iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad users later
this year.
While it may appear that Apple is hijacking a feature developers
would want to build themselves, by building a baseline for the
entire platform, larger numbers of people will likely participate
than if they were stuck in a single developer-specific network.
**Tentpole #7: iAd Mobile Advertising** -- Apple's new ad service,
iAd, seeks to help developers who make free apps earn some income
via advertising dollars. Jobs said, "Our developers are putting ads
into apps, and for lack of a better way to say it, we think most of
this kind of advertising sucks." iAd is Apple's solution to this
problem, a way to insert advertising into apps without compromising
the quality of the iPhone OS experience.
Since iPhone OS users spend most of their time in apps and not on
search engines (where most advertising dollars go), this is where
the mobile advertising opportunities exist. Apple calculates that
the average user spends 30 minutes per day using apps. Were Apple to
present these users with an ad every 3 minutes, that would equal 10
ads per device per day. With nearly 86 million iPhone OS users (and
rising) Apple puts its advertising potential at 1 billion ad
impressions per day.
But it's not just the market Apple is after. The company also wants
to increase the quality of mobile ads. Jobs sees iAd as the way to
bring new levels of interactivity and emotion to mobile advertising.
By "emotion," Jobs seemed to mean "video content that really
connects with users" (he pointed to the fact that most advertising
dollars remain in television because of the medium's emotional
dimension). The other difference with iAds will be where users view
them. Most people don't tap on ads in part because doing so will
take them out of their app and onto an company's Web page. In
contrast, iAd will be able to offer interaction and video within the
app.
The demonstration included ads for Toy Story 3, Nike (Air Jordan),
and Target. Each seemed almost like its own app - including games,
videos, wallpaper, and interactive maps - existing within the app
from which it originated; a truly different kind of advertisement
and one that will undoubtedly interest advertising agencies.
Rich iAds will rely on HMTL5 for video and interactivity. Jobs went
on to note that ad agencies are excited at the prospect of creating
interactive advertisements, saying, "For the first time, you can
really start to take advantage of the great pool of skills an ad
agency has." In the Q&A session, Jobs also said that there will be
some boundaries for ads - that advertisers won't be able to run just
anything. It will be curious to see how this plays out given the
various struggles the App Store approval process has faced in the
last year.
Apple plans to sell and host the ads, while providing developers
with 60 percent of the resulting ad revenues.
**Smaller Features** -- Not everything in iPhone OS 4 received
"tentpole" status - an armful of smaller features were instead
splashed across a couple of slides at the beginning of the
presentation.
We have to admit that one feature jumped out: Bluetooth keyboard
support, something we've wanted since the first iPhone was
introduced. The iPad shipped with support for Bluetooth wireless
keyboards, and now iPhone OS 4 brings Bluetooth keyboard support to
all devices that can handle the system upgrade. There are times when
all you need to make an iPhone or iPod touch into a mobile email
device for serious work is a keyboard. Apple may have wanted to wait
until it had the iPad out before making this an option, to provide a
choice among a range of device sizes.
Another feature likely to be popular with users is the option to
change the Home screen wallpaper, just as on the iPad. That said,
the feature makes less sense on the iPhone and iPod touch, since
there isn't as much empty space between icons and it could cause the
home screens to appear cluttered.
The iPhone OS 4 SDK will offer over 1,500 new APIs and developer
features such as calendar access, address and date data detectors,
iPod remote control accessories, in-app SMS, regular expression
matching, date formatters, photo library access, image I/O,
half-curl page transition, Quick Look, call event notification, full
access to still and video camera data, ICC profiles, carrier
information, power analysis tools, full map overlays, draggable map
annotations, performance profiling tools, automated testing, and a
new framework for hardware-accelerated math functions called
Accelerate. Phew!
On the user end, some of the new 100 features that were not
explicitly addressed include playlist creation, birthday calendars,
5x digital zoom, IMAP note syncing, CardDAV, nested playlists,
tap-to-focus video, workout uploading to Nike+, Places in Photos,
iPod out (we don't know what that is, either), SMS/MMS message
searching, persistent Wi-Fi, wake-on-wireless, the capability to
file and delete Mail search results, Web search suggestions, editing
of Mail messages in the Outbox, image size selection in Mail
messages, CalDAV invitations, spell check, app gifting, easy access
to recent Web searches, and larger fonts for Mail, SMS, and alerts.
With the iPhone OS 4 announcement and the wealth of detail offered,
it's clear that Apple is pushing to address many of the shortcomings
of the iPhone OS and stay ahead of the competition. If you weren't
sure whether Apple was serious about wanting to dominate the mobile
market, this presentation made it clear that Apple doesn't plan to
cede any territory to competitors.
----
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TidBITS Watchlist: Notable Software Updates for 12 April 2010
-------------------------------------------------------------
by TidBITS Staff
article link:
**KeyCue 5.0** -- Ergonis Software has released a major update to the
keyboard shortcut documentation utility KeyCue. The biggest change
in KeyCue 5.0 is the addition of an open interface that enables
third party applications to display shortcuts not natively available
through program menus. Previously, only shortcuts available from a
program's regular menus were accessible to KeyCue (see "KeyCue's
Keyboard Shortcut Cheat Sheet Goes Global," 24 March 2009). The
update also improves the update and installation process and
provides other refinements, including the capability to specify on
which display, in a multi-monitor setup, the KeyCue shortcut table
will appear. (€19.99 new, free update for purchases made within
the last 2 years, 1.3 MB)
Read/post comments about KeyCue 5.0.
**The Missing Sync for Android 1.3** -- For those who have chosen an
Android-based smartphone over the iPhone, Mark/Space has updated its
The Missing Sync for Android syncing software to include wireless
syncing via Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, enabling users to rid themselves of
at least one cluttering cable for connecting to the Mac. Other
improvements include the addition of syncing for notes, a new
ringtone editor, and the capability to archive text messages.
Overall sync performance and security have also been improved.
($39.95, $29.95 crossgrade, free update)
Read/post comments about The Missing Sync for Android 1.3.
**Photoshop Lightroom 2.7** -- As Adobe inches towards the debut of
Lightroom 3.0, it has rolled out the software's release candidate,
version 2.7, adding raw camera support for nine new cameras. The
newly supported cameras include the Canon EOS 550D (Digital Rebel
T2i/ EOS Kiss X4 Digital), Kodak Z981, Leaf Aptus-II 8, Leaf
Aptus-II 10R, Mamiya DM40, Olympus E-PL1, Panasonic G2, Panasonic
G10, and the Sony A450. The update also raises the cache limit to
200 GB and fixes a slideshow playback crashing bug for Windows
users. Coinciding with this update are the releases of the Photoshop
Camera Raw 5.7 and DNG Converter 5.7 Release Candidates. ($299 new,
free updates for existing Lightroom and Photoshop users,
75.8/51.8/47.7 MB)
Read/post comments about Photoshop Lightroom 2.7.
**PDF Enhancer 3.5** -- Apago's PDF Enhancer may not be the sort of
utility every Mac user needs, but for certain professionals, it's a
must-have for automating the creation, standardization, and
optimization of PDF documents (we rely on it heavily for our Take
Control ebooks). Version 3.5 offers faster processing speeds (key in
a production environment), improved reliability, clean-up of scanned
documents, AES security, and improved font and color handling. With
version 3.5, Apago has slimmed the product line, dropping the
Standard and Server editions to focus on the Professional and
Advanced Server editions. ($349 (Professional)/$1,999 (Advanced
Server) new, upgrade prices vary)
Read/post comments about PDF Enhancer 3.5.
ExtraBITS for 12 April 2010
---------------------------
by TidBITS Staff
article link:
There's no point in denying it - nearly everything we're reading and
talking about is still about the iPad and iPhone OS 4. But it's all
good stuff, and if you're not yet sick of the iPad, do tune into
some of our podcasts and check out the articles we link to.
**TidBITS Staff Discusses the iPad on MacJury Podcast** -- In what was
perhaps the largest podcast we've ever participated in, nearly the
entire TidBITS staff joined MacJury host Chuck Joiner to talk about
the iPad. Topics ranged widely, including how it will be shared, the
need for a guest mode, how we'll interact with it as an object, and
where it will fit into our digital lives. But the real reason to
listen is to hear Tonya compare using the iPad to "eating pudding
with your fingers," an image that left many of us briefly
speechless.
Read/post comments
**Google Developer Explains iPhone OS 4 Multitasking** -- A Google
developer, formerly on the Android team, provides a detailed, fair,
and clear explanation of how iPhone OS 4 multitasking will work.
Robert Love explains the difference between true background
application multitasking and Apple's limited set of APIs that let
certain processes continue to operate in the background. He also
differentiates serialization (quitting an app while preserving its
state precisely) and true background operations.
Read/post comments
**Jason Snell Examines Apple's Strategic Position** -- Our friend
Jason Snell of Macworld has a must-read piece on how Apple used the
iPhone OS 4 announcement to take aim at a variety of competitors:
Google's Android operating system, App Store critics, Adobe, and
(again) Google. Jason is, as usual, spot on, and his conclusion
should be required reading for anyone complaining about Apple's
behavior.
Read/post comments
**Adam Discusses the iPad and iPhone OS 4 on Tech Night Owl Live** --
It's been an iPad- and iPhone-intensive week, and Adam took some
time out in the middle to talk with Tech Night Owl host Gene
Steinberg about the first few days of iPad hands-on, along with a
run-down of the most interesting bits of Apple's iPhone OS 4
announcement.
Read/post comments
**John Gruber of Daring Fireball Reviews the iPad** -- Few writers put
the kind of thought into user interface that John Gruber of Daring
Fireball does, and that shows in his lengthy review of the iPad.
It's very much worth reading for his detailed impressions in support
of why the iPad is Apple's reconception of personal computing.
Read/post comments
**A Toddler's First iPad Encounter** -- Hoping to capture her initial
reactions, Todd Lapin had his camera ready when he first showed his
iPad to his 2.5-year-old daughter. Aside from being cute, the
footage is interesting for what it shows us about which aspects of
the iPad interface are intuitive and which are less so. The clip
also hammers home just how standard and ubiquitous this technology
will become for the next generation.
Read/post comments
**Jeff Carlson Joins Photographers to Talk about G10/G11 Book** -- On
a recent MacVoices podcast, Jeff Carlson joined Chuck Joiner to talk
about the making of Jeff's (almost ridiculously long-titled) book
"Canon PowerShot G10/G11: From Snapshots to Great Shots." What's
great about this episode is that they were joined by photographers
Jeff Lynch and Justin Van Leeuwen, who contributed photos for the
book through an experimental crowd-sourcing process using Flickr.
Read/post comments
**Tips on Traveling with Gadgets from the TSA Blog** -- If you've done
any air traveling in the last several years, you know part of the
process is handing over your laptop, phone, and any other gadgets
for security screening. The Transportation Security Administration,
responsible for air travel security measures in the U.S., offers
tips in a new blog post on traveling with small gadgets such as
e-readers, netbooks, and, yes, the iPad.
Read/post comments
**WeatherBug Elite for iPad Free for Limited Time** -- Adam's favorite
weather app for the iPhone, WeatherBug Elite, has been expanded for
the iPad, and for a limited time, it's available for free. We
haven't spent much time with it yet, but it appears to use the
iPad's larger screen to good effect, devoting most of the display to
the map, and providing four zoomable panels for conditions, cameras,
forecast and hourly forecast. The main missing feature appears to be
pin dropping and display, but WeatherBug's developers tell me they
just couldn't get it in for the iPad launch, and plan to add it to
an update, due in the next month or so.
Read/post comments
**First Day Impressions of the iPad on MacJury, Part Two** -- The
madness continues as Matt Neuburg and other sleep-deprived zombies
rattle on with Chuck Joiner about the first-day iPad experience.
Read/post comments
$$
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